


Just an ordinary Tuesday

by Jonah_Smith_907



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alright here we go, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, DUE TO SEVERE PANIC ATTACK, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, LIKE A LOT OF ANGST, Peter got drugged a little bit on his way to school, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), This is so angsty, Tony is a dad, and I need to heal myself, because that shit sucked, but everybody is alive, honestly man Peter is a mess, i wrote this in one go, idk - Freeform, massive trigger warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-30
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2019-07-04 17:10:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15845706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jonah_Smith_907/pseuds/Jonah_Smith_907
Summary: On his way to school, Peter stops to fight some thugs. Unfortunately, he gets drugged in the process, but being the stubborn little shit he is, he goes to school anyway.Then Flash does something stupid and sends Peter into a massive flashback paired with a severe panic attack (honestly man this is like the angstiest shit I've written in my life) and then Tony to the rescue.It's just a lot of angst, okay!Also slight Steve/Tony. Barely there, but if u squint ...I'm not good at summaries.





	1. Chapter 1

It was an ordinary Tuesday. A Tuesday as any other, a little cloudy and cold, even though it was May. And yet, it wasn't that ordinary. Had it been ordinary, this whole mess wouldn't have happened. 

But perhaps one should start at the beginning, not at the end. 

 

Peter had school that day. That cloudy day. But, considering he was Spider-Man and never ran away from a fight if he could help it, he was held up on his way to school. 

Happy hadn't been able to drive him and literally every Avenger who was currently home had offered to do it instead, but the teen had refused. He didn't want to get even more attention by being driven by Captain America. It was bad enough as it was.

Looking back, he should have accepted the offer. 

However, now he was walking down a rather empty street. It wasn't exactly unusual that there weren't many people around, considering that it was mostly factories and warehouses on either side of the road. 

The only thing that was out of the ordinary, were the five men standing at a corner, seemingly pushing around a smaller man. As Peter came closer, he noticed that they were offering him something. Or rather trying to force him to buy it.

The teen quickly slipped into a narrow alley and practically jumped out of his clothes to reveal his suit underneath. Since the whole Thanos-catastrophe, he had made it a habit to wear it at all times. 

He crawled up a wall and then ran over the rooftop until he reached the little group. Yelling 'what's up, y'all', he jumped down on them. They jumped back in surprise, the victim stepping back until he hit the wall behind him. Peter gave him a small wave and then turned to the five others. 

“Well, that's not very nice, is it.”, he said and tilted his head to the side. “He clearly doesn't want to buy your … stuff, whatever it is, but that doesn't seem to reach your brains.”

“Fuck off, Spidey.”, a man with a beard growled. “Or we'll make you.”

“You could at least say please.”

“This is none of your business, man.”, a different one with a cap snapped. 

“It kinda is though.” Without further warning, Peter shot a few webs at them, one of which made a man with hoodie stumbled backwards and hit a lamppost. The teen attached him to it without a second glance, then he focussed back on the four that were left. Their victim had made a run for it as soon as the action had started. 

Maybe, if he hadn't been up since 2am, he wouldn't have been so tired. Maybe, if he hadn't been this tired, he would have noticed the man coming at him from behind. Maybe, if he had noticed him earlier, he would have been able to jump out of the way and he could have avoided the fiasco that was to follow. 

He did not jump. He did not notice the man. He was not awake enough, had been up for too long.

He hissed when suddenly there was a needle in his arm. He kicked the thug in the guts, sending him falling to the floor and pulled the evil thing out of his arm. At the moment he was running completely on adrenaline, which was probably the only reason he was able to defeat the three men that were left and web them to a wall. 

“Uuh … Karen?”, he panted. “What was in that syringe?” 

“It appears to be some kind of drug, however I cannot identify it.”

“Must be new then.” He slowly walked back to where he had left his backpack. He'd have to take a different route now. 

“Peter, I would recommend returning to the Avengers Tower and letting your blood getting checked.”

“It's fine.” He pulled off his mask and put on his clothes. He then connected his earbuds to his phone and put them in his ears. “I have an enhanced metabolism. It'll hardly affect me.”

“Nevertheless, you should perhaps let an Avenger know about this incident.”

“Why?” He put his backpack on and started hurrying down the street. He was gonna be late for school again.

“In case something bad proceeds to happen.”

“I'm fine, Karen. They didn't even inject me with the whole thing, I pulled it out before they could.” He was jogging now, partly in the hopes of getting his weirdly heavy head to clear up. “Besides, I still have that bracelet Tony made me so he can hover over my pulse and stuff whenever I'm on patrol. You can alert him if anything is way too out of the ordinary and I can't keep you from doing that anymore. Deal?”

“Peter, you would refuse to call Mr. Stark even if you were laying bleeding out on the pavement.”, the AI dryly responded.

“Yeah, whatever, I gotta go now. Got school.” He put away his phone and burst into the building, racing to his classroom. He was five minutes late, but he figured that wouldn't be too bad. He shook out his twitching hand before knocking and entering the room. Everybody turned to look at him, but he just mumbled an excuse about having overslept and sat down next to Ned, who gave him a worried glance. He shortly leaned against the wall next to him with one hand, as a wave of dizziness washed over him. 

“Dude, you look like shit.”, his friend announced in a whisper. “Are you sick or something?”

“I'm fine, Ned. Just um …” He hesitated shortly, trying to find the right words. “I just had to stop some thugs.”

Ned frowned. “Right.”

 

For the next ten minutes or something, everything _was_ indeed fine. Apart from a growing headache and a profuse sweating attack. Then, from one moment to the other, everything went to hell and shit hit the fan, big-time. 

The phone rang and the teacher, Mrs. Clave, had to answer it. Flash, not noticing, or happily ignoring the miserable state Peter was obviously in, had ripped apart a sheet of paper and now let the pieces rain down onto the other one's head. 

Who was drugged up, sleep-deprived and traumatised.

What happened next was only to be expected. Peter's spidey-senses had slowly gone wild over the past fifteen minutes, but now they went through the roof and still kept accelerating. He spun around in his chair, only to be met with his own skin, grey and dead, peeling off his head and arms, falling to the floor and onto the desk. 

Without even realizing it, he more or less slid off his chair and squeezed himself in the gap between the chair and the wall.

He didn't notice Mrs. Clave calling his name. He didn't notice Ned patting him on the shoulder. He didn't notice the stares he got. 

He was horrified.

Once had been enough for a lifetime, but dying for a second time? That couldn't be right, couldn't be happening! It was so wrong, everything _felt_ wrong, _smelt_ wrong, _tasted_ wrong! Instead of his hoodie over his suit, he felt naked and exposed, instead of Ned's shampoo next to him, he could only smell the distinct scent of sulphur, as if he was back on Titan, and instead of the mint he'd eaten earlier, he could now only taste ash.

'No no no no no no!' He didn't realize that he'd spoken out loud. For a second he could see somebody's face in his field of vision, pale and blurry, mouth moving. Peter shook his head, trying to stop this feeling, trying to control himself. “I don't wanna die!”, he finally choked out, barely more than a whisper. 

And suddenly Ned was next to him, gripping his arm and speaking to him, slowly. Peter stared back at him, not understanding a word he said, too far gone in his own mind, until finally he put together the movements of his friend's lips and the muffled audio input he got.

“Stark. Calling Stark.” 

Over and over and over, until Peter managed a nod, which immediately transformed into a jerking shaking of his head. If Tony was here, he'd have to see him die again! He couldn't do that to him, not again, couldn't put that weight on him!

 

He didn't know how much time passed. He'd retreated back into memories of _that day_ , back on that planet, with Tony and Dr. Strange and the Guardians. 

They were all dead, all gone, and he was going to follow them into the darkness and emptiness that was death. 

And suddenly there was a hand on his neck, solid and strong and stroking his jaw. But he didn't have jaw any more, did he? It had turned to ash, just like the rest of him, gone. But if it was gone, then how could he possibly feel it? 

Maybe he wasn't gone completely yet? He didn't know, he'd squeezed his eyes shut. Now he cracked them open slowly, blinking rapidly as he did so. There was somebody crouching in front of him, looking at him, talking to him. 

“Misser S-Stark?”, he croaked out, surprised to find his vocal cords still in existence. 

“Yeah Buddy, that's me.” Since when could he hear?? “You wanna tell me what's happening?”

“I don't know, I don't – I don't – I'm gone!” He didn't fight the tears streaming down his face. If it even was his face. Maybe it was only his imagination. 

“Can you tell me where you are?”

“I-I … I'm on Titan.” It was surprisingly difficult to speak. Peter wasn't sure if it was because of his breaths that came out too fast, or because he was imagining this whole conversation. “Titan.”

There was a muttered “Fuck” and then Tony continued in a much softer voice: “Peter, I need you to listen to me very closely. Can you do that for me?” The teen only nodded shakily. “You are not on Titan. You are on earth, in New York. You are at school, Thanos is dead and you are alive.” Now Tony sounded sad. Why was he sad? “You hear me? You're alive. No turning into dust today, my friend.”

“But I'm – I'm not-” He drew in another shaky breath and shook his head. “I can feel myself disintegrating.” As if to show the lack of his body, he pulled up the sleeve of his hoodie with numb fingers, barely feeling the fabric of his suit underneath.

There was silence after that, for a moment it was completely quiet. Then somebody else spoke up. It sounded a lot like Steve, and when Peter looked up, the person even looked like Steve. But he hadn't been on Titan. That didn't make any sense!

“Hey Pete, it's me, Steve.” What … was he doing here? “Your good friend Ned here called us. You're having a flashback right now, but I assure you, you're safe.”

And suddenly his words were gone. He couldn't speak any more, couldn't breath, couldn't do anything but cry, cry so bitterly, his shoulders shaking in newfound agony as he hunched over to hug himself, but instead he was met with another warm body, firmly against his. One arm was around his waist, holding him close, while the other one reached to his head, softly running a hand through his hair. 

“You're okay.” That was Tony again, voice sounding muffled as he held the teen as close as possible. “You're okay. We're both okay. Thanos is dead and we're all alive.”

Eventually Peter dared to lift his head. He stared at the other man with wide eyes – and realization struck him. He was okay. He was alive and okay and Tony was here, too, and – no, wait, there was something, something important he had to tell him, something - “I got drugged.”

The mechanic stiffened. “What?” He leaned back a little to take a closer look at his kid. “When?”

“This um – this morning.” He took a deep breath. Well, not deep, but deeper than the ones before. “There there were a few um thugs and I had to stop them from … from doing … something.” 

“And they managed to drug you during the fight?”, Tony helpfully supplied. He sighed when the teen nodded, eyes nearly falling closed again. “Why didn't you call me? You can't go to school while on drugs!” 

But before he could even answer, Steve gently squeezed Tony's shoulder. “Tones, not now.”

“Right. Sure, sorry.” He turned around to the soldier. “Are you gonna take care of his class? I gotta get him out of here.”

“Do I answer honestly?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I think you should. You know, so this” He gestured at the pieces of paper on Peter's desk. “doesn't happen again. Drugs or not.” He left out the accidental identity reveal of Spider-Man, but surely Steve would be smart enough to make the whole class swear on the lives of their mothers not to tell anybdoy.

“Will do.”

With that, Tony turned his attention back to Peter, who was now not hyperventilating any more, but instead had leaned his head against the wall, watching the scene in front of him from tired eyes. The genius doubted that the kid actually took anything in, though. “Pete, do you think you can walk to the car?” He didn't even get more than a nod for that. Stubborn as ever. Again he sighed. “Okay, that's a no.” Apparently the talking bit had drained Peter from every ounce of energy he'd had left after this sever panic attack. “Let's go then.” 

Tony lifted his kid up into the air, until he had him safely in his arms. Peter clawed to the mechanic's neck and jacket with both hands, hid his face in his chest and let out a shuddering breath. “'m tired, dad.”, he mumbled. 

And even though the circumstances were horrible and the teen probably didn't even know what was happening, the warmest of all feelings spread in Tony's stomach at that little word. 

Only seconds later and Peter was fast asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please tell me what you thought and if I made any mistakes cause I wrote this in like two hours or three and honestly I have no idea what this even is.  
> Lemme know if you want a second chapter with more fluff.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this is the whole thing from Ned's and later from Tony's POV, I hope you'll enjoy it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also I'm kinda overwhelmed by all the positive comments and the kudos and the hits??? Like that was 1200 hits overnight, y'all are amazing

It was nothing new that Peter was late almost every morning. It was also nothing new that he looked pale and tired everyday. However, the look on his face when he entered the classroom this morning, was almost shocking.

Because the way Peter's eyes darted through the room, even though he had lowered his head and the way he was gripping his backpack while making his way to his seat, right next to Ned, was … scary. And not even a minute later, he tipped over to the side, the only reason he didn't fall over, being that he caught himself with one hand on the wall.

“Dude, you look like shit.”, Ned whispered, trying and failing to conceal his worry. There was this cowering dread pulling on his heart that made it hard to be his usual happy self. “Are you sick or something?”

“I'm fine, Ned. Just um …” Peter hesitated shortly, looking like he had to access the dictionary in his head to get out an understandable sentence. “I just had to stop some thugs.”

The other one frowned. He'd known Peter for too long to buy his shit. “Right.”

Then it was quiet for some time, which was, by the way, not the most normal thing either. Usually Ned would start telling his friend about something new they could build or watch or anything alike. But not today. It was as if Peter was trapped in a bubble of silence and Ned could do nothing to pierce through it, only ever shooting worried glances at him.

After that, it only went downhill. 

Mrs. Clave had to answer the phone, so she was distracted for a few minutes. Flash used that time to take the stack of pieces of paper he'd prepared over the past ten minutes and dumped them over Parker's head.

It had only been meant to be a joke, a little something to annoy him, Ned knew that, but the reaction Flash got wasn't an annoyed 'Leave me alone' or 'stop it', not even an insult. Instead, he spun around in his chair – which was a little shocking to be honest – and then there was this look on his face, this look of pure horror, hollow eyes staring at his hands. 

Flash was about to say something, something rude, insulting, anything, Ned could see him opening his mouth, but he never got around get anything out, because Parker slid off his chair until he was sitting on the floor, back pressed against the wall. 

Mrs. Clave shot him an annoyed look and said: “Mr. Parker, would you mind re-joining us? We don't have all day.” Ned couldn't believe what he'd just heard. His friend was clearly in distress and all this teacher cared about was some boring lesson! And worse yet, her scolding caught the attention of the entire class; everybody was looking at them, staring, eyes wide, frowning, wondering what was going on with their classmate.

And then Peter started talking. Not in a normal, calm manner, but rushed and quiet and too close to a whisper. “No no no no no no!”, he mumbled. There was a short pause, in which everybody seemed to hold their breath, trying to figure out what was happening. And then: “I don't wanna die!” 

Ice shot through Ned's body at the broken words. Peter had never actually told him what had happened on that spaceship and with Thanos and all. Only bits and pieces, half-truths and anything to avoid the subject. Now he wasn't so sure he wanted to know more about it. But maybe he should, maybe he should know more, so that he could protect him.

Sure, Peter was the Superhero out of the two, but Superheroes needed protection, too. And if it was only from their own minds. Ned's decision was made quickly and without another thought. He was going to help his friend now, no matter how much their class was staring at them, greedy for information that was none of their business. He had more important things to do than pay them any attention, he had to save Peter and help him in this horrific situation, help him to stop the shaking and crying and wheezing for breath.

“Peter, I'm calling Mr. Stark.” Ned didn't get an answer, which did nothing to calm his nerves. “I'm calling Mr. Stark. Peter?” He gripped Peter's arm and repeated himself again and again, until finally the other one nodded. It was only a small relief, because then suddenly the teen proceeded in shaking his head frantically, eyes squeezed shut, left hand holding on to his right forearm and the other way around, fingers digging into his flesh.

Ignoring the other student's worried mumbles, Ned fished out Peter's phone from his backpack, dialling the contact saved as 'Tony'.

“That's not actually him though, is it?”, Flash suddenly asked, peering over Ned's shoulder. Not even the bully sounded like himself. Not his usual, arrogant, ignorant, asshole self. He sounded more scared, insecure. Human.

“Shut up!” Ned shot MJ a thankful look. Even she looked concerned, going by how deep her frown was. At least finally Stark answered his phone.

“Hey Pete, what's up? You still coming over today?”, the mechanic cheerfully asked, the sound of Dumm-E trying to extinguish something in the background clear to the teen's ear.

“Um hi Mr. Stark, this is Ned.” He cleared his voice with a nervous look to his friend. He wasn't particularly fond of the next bit, he knew how protective the mechanic could get, especially regarding his favourite 'intern'. “Peter's having a panic attack or something and it's really bad and I don't know what to do!”

“Where are you?” Concern was coating his cracking voice, Tony's usually so carefully constructed facade slipping, even over the phone.

“At school.”

“Be there in five. Make sure to leave him space!” With that he hung up.

 

Nobody really counted how long it took, everybody only had eyes for Peter, sitting on the floor, eyes still shut, breaths too fast, too shallow, too _scared_.

Then suddenly the door flew open and Tony Stark walked in, followed by Captain America. Jaws dropped down to the floor, a few gasps here and there, while Ned gestured them over to his best friend.

'Great', he thought bitterly, 'at least now they'll stop making fun of him. Once he's survived this.'

Stark took Ned's place, who moved out of the way without a word of complaint and kept an eye on his friend from a short distance, though who would he be if he complained about Tony Stark demanding his place, especially if it was about Peter? 

Peter, who was still hyperventilating, Peter, who finally pried open his eyes, rapidly blinking as he tried to focus, when the genius gently placed a hand on his neck and stroked over his jaw with his thumb, Peter, who frowned in absolute confusion when he saw Tony in front of him.

“Misser S-Stark?”, the teen croaked. Ned never wanted to hear him, or ever see him this distraught ever again in his life. Once was enough.

“Yeah Buddy, that's me.” Tony gave him a smile. He was probably as relieved as Ned that the teen had found his voice again. “You wanna tell me what's happening?”

“I don't know, I don't – I don't – I'm gone!” Suddenly there were fresh tears streaming down Peter's face, dropping down on his arms, making him look even smaller, more fragile, easier to break. Although that left the question whether he already was. And Tony hated that thought.

But he couldn't get emotional now, couldn't get distracted. He had to get his kid back to reality first. “Can you tell me where you are?”

“I-I … I'm on Titan.” The mechanic's stomach dropped at that, memories filling his head in the most terrible way. “Titan.”

“Fuck”, he swore; then he caught himself and continued in a much softer voice: “Peter, I need you to listen to me very closely. Can you do that for me?” The teen only nodded shakily. “You are not on Titan. You are on earth, in New York. You are at school, Thanos is dead and you are alive. You hear me? You're alive. No turning into dust today, my friend.”

“But I'm – I'm not-” Peter drew in another shaky breath and shook his head. “I can feel myself disintegrating.” Tony wasn't sure why the teen pulled up the sleeve of his hoodie at that, but he supposed it had something to do with the empty look in the kid's eyes

It was quiet in the room after that statement, not one student talked. Of course they knew about the whole Thanos-thing, but not one of them had thought that it had affected anybody like that. They'd all just assumed there'd been a big fight and the snap had been avoided.

Apparently they'd been wrong. 

Then Steve spoke up, ignoring the upset looks of Peter's classmates. “Hey Pete, it's me, Steve. Your good friend Ned here called us. You're having a flashback right now, but I assure you, you're safe.”

And suddenly Peter's breath hitched, and he opened his mouth as if to say something but he leaned over in a way that made him seem even more desperate, as sobs shook his exhausted body. There wasn't anything else to do but to stop him from burying his head in his knees, so Tony caught him easily, holding him. One arm was around his waist, holding him close, while the other one reached to his head, softly running a hand through his hair. 

“You're okay.”, the genius kept repeating, reassuring his kid as much as possible and maybe himself, too. “You're okay. We're both okay. Thanos is dead and we're all alive.”

Eventually the sobs died down a little bit and Peter lifted his head, staring at the man in front of him with wide eyes. The billionaire could see the exact moment the teenager realized where he was, realized that he was indeed back on earth, in his classroom, in the tight hold of his ~~dad~~ mentor. However, there was still something in his look, that seemed … desperate, nearly, then suddenly a flash of recognition as he blurted out: “I got drugged.”

The mechanic stiffened. He had not seen this coming. At all. “What?” He leaned back a little to take a closer look at his kid. “When?”

“This um – this morning.” Peter took a deep breath. Well, not deep, but deeper than the ones before. “There there were a few um thugs and I had to stop them from … from doing … something.” 

“And they managed to drug you during the fight?”, Tony helpfully supplied. He sighed when the teen nodded, eyes nearly falling closed again. It was almost painful to see this more than smart kid struggle for words like this, not knowing how to express himself properly. “Why didn't you call me? You can't go to school while on drugs!” 

But before Peter could even answer, Steve gently squeezed Tony's shoulder. “Tones, not now.”

“Right. Sure, sorry.” He turned around to the soldier, still not letting go of the boy. “Are you gonna take care of his class? I gotta get him out of here.”

“Do I answer honestly?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I think you should. You know, so this” He gestured at the pieces of paper on Peter's desk. “doesn't happen again. Drugs or not.” He left out the accidental identity reveal of Spider-Man, but surely Steve would be smart enough to make the whole class swear on the lives of their mothers not to tell anybody.

“Will do.”

With that, Tony turned his attention back to Peter, who was now not hyperventilating any more, but instead had leaned his head against the wall, watching the scene in front of him from tired eyes. The genius doubted that the kid actually took anything in, though. “Pete, do you think you can walk to the car?” He didn't even get more than a nod for that. Stubborn as ever. Again he sighed. “Okay, that's a no.” Apparently the talking bit had drained Peter from every ounce of energy he'd had left after this sever panic attack. “Let's go then.” 

Tony lifted his kid up into the air, until he had him safely in his arms. Peter clawed to the mechanic's neck and jacket with both hands, hid his face in his chest and let out a shuddering breath. “'m tired, dad.”, he mumbled. 

And even though the circumstances were horrible and the teen probably didn't even know what was happening, the warmest of all feelings spread in Tony's stomach at that little word. 

Only seconds later and Peter was fast asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't ... I don't know if this worked?? The way I wanted it too? Idk, it was just oddly difficult. First I wanted to write it from Flash's POV but that kinda didn't work and then I tried from the classes POV but that was even worse, so here we are. Sorry about the sudden POV change in the middle where Tony takes over, but hey, I tried my best.
> 
> Also I was wrong about the whole thing being shorter and all, I'll just move the fluff part to chapter three. 
> 
> Please tell me what you thought of this chapter, because I have honestly no idea. Also I didn't read over it for a third time, so please point out any mistakes or sth.


	3. Chapter 3

Steve waited until Tony and Peter were out of sight, then he sighed and walked up to the front of the class, looking at student's partly pale and slightly scared faces. He sighed again, then he spoke: “I suppose you all have questions.” Twenty hands shot into the air. “But before I answer anything, I will have to tell you a story, so please don't interrupt me.” 

“Is Peter Parker Spider-Man?”, a boy in the back called, ignoring the order from two seconds ago. 

Steve recognized him as Flash, the one who had started this whole fiasco. He shot him an icy look, which seemed to do the trick. He ignored all the gasps when he confirmed: “He is. And he is under our protection, so if any of you leaks this information, we will have your ass sued off.” It was very quiet in the room after that. Cap ran a hand through his hair. “I don't know the whole story. I wasn't there.” He failed to mention _why_ he hadn't been there. At the time, Tony and him hadn't exactly been on speaking terms yet. “I only know, that Tony was on that spaceship. The doughnut one. And Peter was there, too. Because he's a kid too good for this world and he wanted to help. I think Tony tried to get him to leave, but hell, that kid is stubborn.” He smiled at that. What he said next erased that smile. “Well. That's how they both ended up in space and not much later on a planet called Titan. The um … the home planet of Thanos.” The Ned-kid looked like he was going to pass out any moment, tears in his eyes, lips pressed tightly together. The super-soldier felt a little sorry for having to say the next part. “Then came the snap. And half the universe … disintegrated.” He swallowed. “Due to his spider-senses, he felt everything. Whilst the others vanished rather fast, Peter managed to stay alive a lot longer. Tony didn't tell me the details of that, but it was … it was horrific.” He cleared his throat and shot another look at Flash, who at least managed to look somewhat guilty. “Anyway, that's the reason why he reacted the way he did when those pieces of paper fell off of him. His mind made him believe it was his own skin and threw him straight into a flashback.”

It was dead silent. Then Ned started crying, shortly after followed by heavy sobs. 

“Ned, right?”, Steve asked and stepped closer to the boy, gently putting a hand on his shoulder. “Sorry you had to find out this way, but I don't think Peter was ready to talk about it. He didn't really talk to anybody about it, not even Natasha and she's scary when she doesn't get what she wants.”

The boy gave him a shaky grin from under the tears and nodded. “Can I go see him?”, he then croaked. 

“I don't think that's a very good idea, he will probably sleep for a while now. But before I leave, I think, I gotta answer some questions.” He stared at the class expectantly. For a few long moments nobody said anything as they tried to get their thoughts back into order. 

Then the teacher cleared her throat. “So all those times Peter showed up with bruises and looking like he hadn't slept in three days … that was because of Spider-Man?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”, Steve huffed and raised an eyebrow at her. She'd noticed all that and had chosen to ignore it? Not very good, but now wasn't the right time. “I'm still impressed that his grades didn't go downhill since the … well, since he's become Spider-Man.”

A girl in the back raised her hand. Cap nodded at her and she asked a little hesitantly: “How _did_ he become Spider-Man?”

“Ah, um … well I don't know if that's my place to answer, to be honest. He's never really talked about it, so I don't really know what exactly happened. I just know it involved a spider and Peter.”

“Ah … okay.” She frowned in confusion, but seemed at least to understand that she shouldn't press the matter. 

Then, Flash spoke up. “So the Stark-Internship … that's him being Spider-Man??”

“...yeah. Pretty much. Though he also does more or less real internship work.”

“More or less?”

“I mean none of the other interns are allowed to work on Tony's suits.” Steve frowned at that, but he couldn't quite hide the fondness in neither his eyes, nor his voice. “That man has a soft spot for Peter. And only for him.”

“Right.” Now the bully looked like all strength had left his body, as he stared at the floor, lost in thought. 

“Anybody else?”

“Yeah, um.” Ned cleared his voice. “How strong is he? He never told me, just that he couldn't punch Flash in the face because it's wrong and he doesn't want to kill him.”

Steve hesitated at that, opened his mouth and closed it again. He started another attempt. “He … he said that? That's very … dumb. Kind of. And also mature. But I think he's stronger than me.”

A series of 'Ohs' and 'Ahs' and 'Holy shit' ran through the students. 

“Yeah. He's great.” Again he cleared his throat. “But you really can't tell anybody about his identity. Otherwise I can't promise that Tony won't hurt you. One way or the other.”

 

When Peter woke up, he was laying in what he recognized to be his room in Stark Tower. Although he didn't know how he'd gotten here, he wasn't going to complain about it, since his head hurt and his eyes were stinging from tiredness and for once in his life he was more than glad that he didn't have to get up immediately. 

“Hey, you're awake.”, Tony, who had appeared in the door, suddenly said and Peter turned his head to look at him, a slightly confused frown on his face. 

“How … no. What happened?”, the teen croaked. His throat felt dry, like he had screamed too loud, too long.

“You had a flashback in class. Your friend Ned called and Cap and I got you out.” The mechanic leaned over and gently brushed a few strands of hair out of Peter's forehead. The teen leaned into the touch without really noticing it. “You had us worried, you know?”

“Why?” There surely hadn't been a reason to be worried about him. Okay, a flashback was probably not the nicest thing that could have happened and he didn't even think about all the things he'd remembered, but that couldn't have been the only reason to worry the one and only Tony Stark. 

“Peter, you got _drugged_ on your way to school.” Now he sounded scolding, though it only barely hid the concern that was still prominent. “That's the reason why the flashback was that severe. But Bruce said you'd be fine.”

“Oh.” Peter looked down at his hands. “For how long was I out?”

“A few hours. It's six in the afternoon.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” Tony's expression softened again and he gave his kid a smile. “How about you get out of bed, onto the couch and we'll get some take-out and watch a movie?”

“That sounds great.” The brunette grinned at the older man. “But only if I get to choose the movie.”

“Sure.” Tony pulled back Peter's blanket and then walked out of the room, the younger on right behind him.

“I wanna watch Bambi.” 

“No.”

“Why not??”

“Because it's sad.”

“So?”

“I don't wanna watch anything sad.”

“Fine. Wall-E then.”

“Fine.”

Peter fell back asleep an hour later, empty food containers on the floor, his head resting on Tony's shoulder, the mechanic lightly running his hand through the brown curls of the boy, gently massaging his scalp. 

 

When Peter woke up the next day, he was still curled up on the couch, but his head had moved down to rest in Tony's lap, who apparently hadn't bothered to move over night, his hand still in Peter's hair. 

Then teen sat up and yawned, shooting a look at the clock. It didn't surprise him that he was running late. However, before he could get up and get dressed, the billionaire stirred and gave him a sleepy look. “What are you doing?”

“I'm running late for school!” 

“You wanna go to school?? After what happened yesterday?” Suddenly Tony was wide awake and followed the boy to his room. “Don't you want to stay home for another day? I mean ...”

“Yeah, I know.”, Peter called from the bathroom. “They'll stare at me and ask me questions. But I'll be fine.”

“Um … you don't remember, do you?”

“Remember what?”

“You kinda accidentally maybe revealed your identity.” The mechanic scratched the back of his neck. 

The bathroom door flew open and a very distraught looking Peter stepped out, eyes wide and brow furrowed. “I'm sorry, what??”

“You kind of rolled up the sleeve of your shirt and the others could see the suit underneath.”

“Oh god! Oh god, no, that's bad! That's really bad, Tony!!”

“It's okay, Steve took care of it. Nobody is going to say anything.” The older man grinned at the kid's distress. “Don't worry, we took care of it.”

“Uh … and like _can_ I go to school then?”

“Yeah. I mean if you want. Nobody would blame you or anything if you want to stay home for another day.”

“No, I'm fine. Ned's there. I think he called yesterday but I missed him.” Peter was already half out of the door and in the elevator, still working on closing his jacket.

“Call me if you need anything!”, Tony called after him, but the teen only waved. The genius shook his head. “This kid.”

 

When Peter entered the school, he felt like everybody was watching him. Of course they didn't, but nevertheless, his heart was beating way too fast and he could feel the adrenaline in his legs, making it hard to walk slowly. He let out a sigh of relief when he could finally fall into his seat in his classroom.

Ned immediately leaned over and asked: “Dude, are you okay? Like … ???”

“Yeah, I'm fine.”, Peter gave him what he hoped was a calm smile. He was not aware of the look of panic in his eyes. “I was just a little tired and slept for a few hours, so I missed your call.” A slight frown appeared on his forehead and for a moment the panic disappeared. “Did you know that Tony doesn't like Bambi? Because it's sad?”

“No, I did not know that _Tony Stark_ doesn't like _Bambi_.” Ned rolled his eyes. “We're not all that lucky, you know.”

“What about the others? Did they freak out?” Peter nervously swallowed. Why did he go to school. This whole day was just going to be awkward and everybody would stare at him and ask questions and probably try to blackmail him. He should have listened to Tony and stayed home, but now it was to late. “About … you know, me?”

“Being Spider-Man? Yeah, a little.” Ned snickered at the memory. The somewhat good part of it, anyway. “You should have seen Flash's face. Looked like he was about to pee his pants.”

“At least I didn't cry like a baby.”, a very pissed off Flash suddenly piped up from behind, dangerously close to pouting.

“Shut up, man.”, Peter snapped. He was less than not ready to put up with the other one's shit today. “Otherwise Tony might get angry.”

“What, the one you called 'dad'?”

“I'm … I – what??” Peter glanced at his friend in slight shock, who made a point at looking at his shoes.

“Yeah … you kinda did.” Ned shrugged. “It wasn't bad, though.”

“Oh god. What did he say??”

“Nothing. He smiled.”

“... smiled?”

“Yeah, like, he looked really happy about it to be honest.”

“Dude, I called Tony Stark 'dad'!!!”

“I know!” While Peter still looked pretty shocked about that, Ned grinned like an idiot and Flash rolled his eyes before retreating back to his own desk. 

“Wow, that's gonna be an embarrassing conversation.” Peter sighed. “This whole day is going to be embarrassing.”

“Yeah, well, there isn't really anything you could do about that though.” His friend gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder. “Just take it with pride, man.”

“Ned, I revealed my identity during a major flashback in the middle of class. There is nothing to taking with pride.”

They were interrupted by a girl called Hannah. She didn't look like she was about to be rude or anything, yet Peter's anxiety got a whole new climax when she was suddenly standing in front of him, smiling and about to say something. Although he tried very hard not to look like a deer caught in headlights, he really did.

“Hey. My friend wanted me to ask you something.”

Of course. “Yeah, um sure. What's up?” He hated the way his voice sounded all thin and shaky, but then again, he was already a lost cause, considering his shaking hands. He should probably really work on getting this anxiety under control.

“Well, she wanted to know how you, you know, became Spider-Man.” She gave him another dashing smile.

“Um … I was uh … I was bitten by a radioactive spider.” It felt weirder saying this, to a normal person than discussing it with a scientist or making up wild theories with Ned. A lot weirder and way more uncomfortable. 

“Yeah, Captain America said something like that, but he didn't know any details.” Her smile _widened_. 

“He … did?” Of course he did. It was Steve, he'd probably thought it was only fair to tell his classmates a thing or two.

“Yeah. He seemed a little stressed out though.” Yeah no shit. Did she not notice what'd been going on?? “We don't know why.”

Peter squinted at her. “Oh I don't know, maybe because my dad had to carry me home because I had a flashback of dying.” Maybe he shouldn't have snapped. Not like he overly regretted it, but still. Spider-Man didn't snap. Though at the moment he wasn't Spider-Man. “Or maybe he told a joke and nobody laughed at it.” Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Ned staring at him in some kind of mix between amusement and disbelief. “So yeah, I guess he was a little stressed.”

“... right.” She didn't seem happy about that answer and gave the teen a dirty look. “Whatever.” Then she turned around and went back to her friends, who immediately started bombarding her with questions.

“Dude!” Ned boxed him in the shoulder. “You did it again!”

“Did what again?”

“You called Tony 'Dad'!”

Peter let out a groan and buried his face in his hands. “This is going to be so weird!! I mean he already heard it once and it wouldn't surprise me if he'd heard whatever I'm saying right now because he's an overprotective genius.” He sighed. “Oh man.”

“I don't think he'll be upset about it or anything.” His friend chuckled. “I bet he'll love it.”

Peter's grimace was enough to tell anybody that he wasn't convinced about that at all. 

“But, before you start worrying about that, maybe you should think about all the girls that are going to talk to you now!”, Ned exclaimed excitedly.

“But I don't even want them to.” Peter shook his head. “I don't want them to just like me because I'm Spider-Man and besides, I'm not really that kinda guy.”

Ned frowned slightly. This was a turn he hadn't seen coming. “How do you mean that?”

“Well, I'm just not interested in like … kissing people and stuff..”

“Why not?”

“I don't know. I just don't … care. About these kinda things.”

“Well, then let's at least hope that your new found popularity will stop MJ from kicking us off the Decathlon team the next time you're late. Or just … missing.”

“I don't think she' really would have cared either way.”

“Yeah, but better safe than sorry. You know how scary she can get when she's angry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this isn't as weird as I think it is, but I just have a hard time writing at the moment. I don't know if there will be another chapter, unless you want one and tell me what content you want in it.  
> Otherwise I'll just look over it in a few days and maybe change it accordingly.  
> Thank you for reading, I hope it wasn't too flat, compared to the other chapters
> 
> Update: I changed the end a little bit.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, I had a lot going on lately.
> 
> Also it's really short, sorry. I didn't know how to end this.

“Hey.” Peter threw his backpack on the couch and walked over to the kitchen, where Steve was currently cooking something. “What are you making?”

“Pasta.”, the older man answered and gave the teen a quick smile before returning to the pot. “How was school?”

“It was alright. The others left me mostly alone. I mean even Flash was really quiet.”

“And did you feel anything like yesterday? Any signs of a flashback?”

“Nope. Just anxiety a few times, but that's normal.” Peter grinned at Steve's worried frown. “Nothing serious, just when I had to answer a question or something when I didn't pay attention. Which I didn't do often!!”

The super-soldier tried to cover up his laughter with a cough and nearly choked on air. He waved the younger one off as he stepped closer in concern and then said with strained voice: “Tony is waiting for you in his workshop.” He took a sip of water to sooth his burning throat. “Something about … something sciency.” 

“Right. I'll bring him up for dinner.” Peter chuckled. “When will it be ready?”

“Um … about ten minutes.”

“Okay, great.” With that he dashed back into the elevator and went down to see Tony. 

“Pete!”, the mechanic greeted him and excitedly waved him over to a table. “Look at this! It's a watch, but it's a special one.”

“How so?”

“It basically alerts me or good ol' Stevie-boy if your heart rate gets freaky.”

“Like in a panic attack?”, Peter asked with a smirk pulling at his lips, a warm feeling filling his stomach.

“Yup.”, Tony agreed, popping the 'p'. “Like in a panic attack.”

“I don't think that's really necessary though. I mean it's nice and all, but don't you think it'd be a little … too much if you got alerted every time I get a bit anxious.”

“No, you see, that's my job. I'll even promise you, that I will only come to your rescue if it's really bad over a longer period of time.”

“Then also promise me that you'll call me or Ned before you do anything.”

“Deal.”

“Then I'm gonna wear it.”

 

And he did. He wore it and Tony had an alarm on his phone that went off whenever Peter was ever so slightly agitated and he watched it anxiously until it died down again. Once or twice, when it went on for too long, the genius had to call the teen, but it'd been once that he'd actually had to drive out and help him out. 

He didn't know about that one time where he was asleep after an all-nighter, so Steve took care of it and then drove to Peter's school and took him home.

The teen's entire class wouldn't shut up about it for days afterwards. Of course they'd witnessed that before, but that'd been a while ago and they'd all been a little too shocked to really grasp the fact that Captain America was in their classroom.

Things were going well. Right up until now. Because now, they got better.

 

Peter walked into the common room, absently digging in his backpack. “Hey Dad, have you seen my Physics book?”

Tony untangled himself from Steve, leaned forward and grabbed said book from the table in front of the couch. He didn't even have seemed to have noticed how he'd been addressed. “Yeah, you left it in the lab yesterday night.” He chuckled softly at the teen's relieved expression, completely oblivious to the expressions of the other Avengers. “This is turning into a habit, kid.”

The teen gave him an annoyed look. “It happened twice!”

“In the past week.”, the genius dryly retorted. “And have you forgotten about the like five times I've had to bring you one of your other books, over the course of two months? I'm slowly learning the names of your teachers.”

“For as long as you stop flirting with them...” Peter finally noticed the other people in the room, all grinning like idiots at Tony and him. “What?”

“Oh nothing.” Clint leaned back in his chair and smirked. “We just think you're cute.”

“Why??” The teen gave him an irritated look.

“Let me think.” Even Natasha wasn't completely able to suppress the smile tugging at her lips. “Oh, I know, it's because you called Tony 'Dad' again.”

“... again?” Peter could feel his cheeks heating up. This had to be the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to him, including the time he'd caught Tony and Steve ripping each other's clothes off. “W-what do you mean with 'again'?”

“Well there was that one time when you had that big panic attack.”, Bucky counted on his fingers. “Steve told me about that, smiling like a dork and all, then there were about a dozen times in the lab, or at dinner, that one time where you ran in on Tony and Steve … do you want me to go on?”

“Oh god.” The teen let himself fall on the couch next to _mentor_ and buried his head in his hands. “This is so awkward.”

“You know … I think it's really cute.”, Tony shyly said, not daring to look at his kid. “I'm totally fine with it.”

“That means he's been your dad since day one.”, Steve chuckled and reached over to squeeze his lover's shoulder. “And he's really nervous about it.”

“Really?”, Peter croaked, quickly glancing at the mechanic. “That's um … that's really uh nice.” He cleared his throat. “I'd like that.”

“You would?” Tony's whole face lit up, as he beamed at the younger one. “That's awesome!”

“That mean you gotta go the teacher-talks now, though.” Peter grinned and nudged him in the shoulder. 

“Ugh, fine.” Tony put an arm around him and pulled him in for a hug. 

“Hold on, does that mean Steve's my Dad now, too?”

“... yeah.” The genius grinned at the soldier. “Babe, this is our son now. And there's absolutely nothing you can change about that.”

“I wouldn't dream about it.”, Steve replied, with an equally wide grin. “Besides maybe making it legal.”

“Wait really??” Peter looked at them with wide eyes, heart going a hundred beats per minute. “That's … yeah, yes, why – that's great, I'd really – wow!”

Tony felt like his heart was about to explode with love, any second now. “I'll ask Pepper to arrange that!”

“Hurray.”, Clint suddenly cheered and threw purple confetti at them.

“Hurray.”, the rest agreed, even Nat smiled now. 

 

Ned seriously nearly fainted when he heard that Peter was now legally Tony Stark's son a few months later, even though it was still secret from the public. Nobody wanted the kid to be exposed to all the press and possible kidnapping. 

However, another half a year later, Tony and Steve got married, with Bucky and Rhodey as their best men. Clint wore a lot of purple that day and even Wade Wilson showed up – in full costume, plus a pink tutu, but nobody even blinked and just rolled with it. At this point, Wade wearing a tutu wasn't the weirdest thing they'd seen on him.

The press waited for them in front of the building, and given that Peter was there, too, they managed to get a few good shots. Which led to a lot of questions. Which the Avengers answered. They told the world – well Peter did, proudly even – that Tony Stark had adopted the teen. Though nobody cared to give a reason to that. It's not like they could've just said 'oh well, he's Spider-Man and then we became friends and all'. Peter wasn't ready for _that_ reveal yet. 

Obviously, now every reporter in New York was after the kid, trying to get interviews and good photos, following him through the streets and waiting for him in front of school. They yelled questions at him, shoving microphones in his face and snapping pictures; completely ignorant to the clear discomfort they caused the teen. 

Thankfully, that's when his classmates started helping him, asking what he needed. He said he just wanted to escape the questions, so without further ado, they suggested hiding him in a group and smuggling him to Happy's car like that. It worked pretty well. The reporters seemed a little intimidated by the throng of students with heavy backpacks, on their way to one car. 

They did not get many good pictures after that, because now, every time Peter got out of the car, his classmates were waiting for him, and every time he had to get back to it, they were there, too. It felt very new to the teen to get help like that, but also kinda weird. Especially since Flash was the one who had suggested the whole throng-thing. Since he'd found out who Spider-Man really was, he'd gotten considerably more friendly. 

Unfortunately, one day shit hit the fan – again – big time. Somebody managed to follow Peter into an alley after school and witnessed him changing into his Spider-Man costume. He snapped a picture of it and stole the teen's backpack. The next day, everybody knew. There wasn't even a way of denying it, since there had been spare web-fluid in that bag, together with a book, in which Peter's full name was scribbled down on the very front page.

The evening of that same day – after panic attacks of both Peter _and_ Tony – and Tony Stark gave another press-conference. He didn't talk for very long, but he made it more than clear, that if he ever heard about anybody bothering _his kid_ , he would end them, whether it was Spider-Man related or not. Also he may or may not have told them that Peter was an Avenger now and Pepper had yelled at him very long and very loud later that night. 

Peter hadn't even thought that Tony had been serious on that spaceship on their way to Titan. He'd thought it had been to just make him feel better, to take some of his fear away. But now he couldn't stop grinning and after the announcement, he waited for the genius and wrapped his arms around him, rambling his thanks and how much that meant and that it actually hadn't been necessary and Tony held him tight and smiled and said that he'd always known Peter would be an Avenger one day.

They both didn't talk about the few tears that sneaked their way down the teen's cheek at that, as he proudly grinned up at his Dad. 

Ned nearly passed out – again – when he heard the news, since Peter hadn't actually told him about the Avenger thing. To be honest, the teen hadn't told anybody a whole lot about what had happened on Titan, except for his therapist, so it had never really come up. 

His classmates greeted him with loud cheering the next Monday at school. They gave him their congrats and bombarded him with questions about the other – _the other_ – Avengers and about his abilities. They hadn't really done that before; they'd been too afraid to trigger anything. Now, though, they didn't hold back and even though Peter wasn't entirely comfortable with that much attention, he didn't actually dislike it. Even Flash joined in on the excited chatter. 

The teachers didn't even try to get them quiet. They knew there was no use, and since they were curious, too, they strained their ears to pick up on the interesting things. 

Eventually, the excitement died down a little and for a few weeks, everything went on normally. Then Ned found out that Peter had started calling Steve, aka _Captain America_ , 'Pops' and that led to a lot of teasing. Especially when they had to watch his cringy videos in PE. 

PE was another thing that got way better with his identity out. Peter could now do what everybody else did, too, only better. Though most of the times he stuck with Ned and helped him or they just talked, while laying on the floor and ignoring what they were supposed to be doing.

And although Peter was now technically at higher risk of getting kidnapped or threatened or something, he just … didn't. Well, except for like once or twice, but those were over fairly quickly and the thugs that had planned the whole thing, rather badly, one might add, would not see the sunlight in a very long time. 

Also Peter and Clint now learned baking from Bucky. They managed to burn down the kitchen twice in a week, then Tony banned them from the kitchen. Not for very long though, because Bucky kept insisting that everybody could bake, it just took a little bit of studying. So then they had to learn everything about every device in the kitchen. The next time they tried to make pancakes, nothing burned down. Well. Except for the pancakes, but Clint said those were the best pancakes he'd ever made and Peter snorted and said those were the _only_ pancakes he'd ever made. Steve snapped a picture of Peter, Clint and Bucky in aprons, grinning like idiots that day.

So yeah, things were good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please tell me if anything was off or something, I didn't read over it again. 
> 
> Also I'm possibly going to have some difficulties with writing panic attacks in the future, because apparently it's started triggering me, but I don't know if it's permanent. 
> 
> Also I may have trouble posting anything for like eight weeks, starting in one or two weeks. 
> 
> Thank you all for reading though, feedback is highly welcomed.


End file.
